UPDATE: Singapore hanged Malaysian man Kalwant Singh and Singaporean Norasharee Gous on Thursday morning. The South China Morning Post said Singapore defended its stand on death penalties for drug trafficking in the face of opposition from anti-death penalty activists. Singapore minister K. Shanmugam said the government did not 'any doubts' about the policy, SCMP reported.
Original Story: An Indian-origin man is set to be hanged in Singapore over trafficking drugs into the country. Kalwant Singh will be hanged on Thursday as his last-minute appeal failed on Wednesday.
In 2016, a Singaporean court found guilty him of trafficking heroin into the country and sentenced him to be hanged to death. Singh was arrested in 2013 when he was 23.
Singapore Court of Appeal dismissed Singh's final stay of execution application on Wednesday.
The Court of Appeal of Singapore Dismissed Singh's Final Stay of Execution Application
"Kalwant Singh's final stay of execution application has just been dismissed by the Spore Court of Appeal. He will be executed tomorrow morning," tweeted Lawyers For Liberty.
Singh had also appealed for a review underlining that he provided key information to the officer which led to the arrest of a notorious drug trafficker.
Kalwant Was Threatened With Violence
Meanwhile, Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) has also urged Singapore to suspend Singh's execution to allow him an opportunity to file for clemency.
ADPAN claimed that Kalwan was forced to make deliveries to Singapore as he was threatened with violence to repay a football gambling debt. But the fact was not prominently considered at his trial.
Another Singaporean drug trafficker, Norasharee Gous, will also be hanged on Thursday, the same day as Kulwant. Kokila Annamalai, a Singaporean activist, told Associated Press that they are the seventh and eighth executions scheduled this year. So far, two people including Nagaenthran have been hanged while four other executions were delayed by last-minute legal challenges.
In April, Singapore executed a Malaysian man for carrying 43 grams of heroin into the country. 'Intellectually disabled' Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, 34, was executed on April 28.
Dharmalingam was on death row for more than 10 years in Singapore, which has strict laws against drugs. Police had caught him with three tablespoons of heroin in 2009 when he was trying to enter Singapore from Malaysia.
